John O’Rourke, your recent My Turn piece [“A malicious, vacuous and ungrateful community’”] made me sad — very, very sad. Among your many accusations was to call the citizens of Conway “ungrateful” for your service. You also claimed that our town engaged in conspiratorial actions in order to unseat you. Because such accusations raise the larger concerns of a current trend in our national, and now local, political discourse, I feel it necessary to respond. Rather than addressing important issues, personal attacks foster a divisive, toxic atmosphere. And in fact, I know that your accusations are unfounded.
Before the election, you sent a letter to the Conway voters requesting their support for your re-election. I replied to that letter and, as a reminder, here is the first paragraph of my letter to you.
Dear John,
To begin, thank you for taking the time to compose and send the letter asking for support in this year’s Select board election. Like everything you do, it was thorough and well done. Your service to our town and the country has been and is exemplary, and I truly appreciate and thank you for all that you have done. Your energy, commitment and hard work have certainly had a positive impact on Conway.
As indicated by the size of the turnout, the election generated a lot of interest and discussion. In the weeks preceding the election I spoke with several people and to a person they all expressed their gratitude for the work you had done for the town. However, those same folks were deeply disturbed by your actions and positions, as was I. My letter also contained these lines:
The opinions you expressed about undocumented immigrants in your My Turn piece and in your Town Meeting handout are antithetical to how I have tried to live my life and everything I believe. If your position on this subject has not changed, I cannot support your re-election to the Select board and will not be voting for you during the upcoming election.
At the end of my letter, I suggested we meet to discuss the election and the issue of immigration. I was very impressed when you accepted my offer and took time out of your busy schedule to come to my house to talk. We had a cordial, wide-ranging conversation and while we didn’t agree on many points, I felt that it was productive — the kind of respectful discourse so badly needed during these times.
During our conversation I did note your apparent affinity for conspiracy theories, specifically that “outside agitators” sought to “influence” the Safe Cities initiative, that COVID-19 was produced in a Chinese lab and is being intentionally used as a “weapon” against the U. S. and, yes, that “certain elements” in town were conspiring against you so that Erica and Phil could hijack the Selectboard.
Exchanging pleasantries as we ended our discussion, we agreed that we liked each other. I mentioned how much I enjoyed working with you on the design of the renovations to your house. On the other hand I said that I felt that when it came to certain issues you had a blind spot, that our disagreements concerned issues, not personal feelings.
However, your My Turn piece demonstrated something different. Rather than taking responsibility for one’s rhetoric, or engaging in productive dialogue, it became easier to hide behind a comforting shield of conspiracy theories. From there one could seek out “enemies” and “others” to blame.
In this case, you were voted out of office not because of some “conspiracy” against you, but because the views you espoused were not representative of the vast majority of Conway’s citizens. I hope that in all upcoming elections, national and local, xenophobic views will be found to be hurtful, damaging and, ultimately, un-American.
Peter Jeswald is a resident of Conway.